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Disaster Helpline, Your Link To Disaster Information

Jackson, MS -- Disaster assistance information is as near as your telephone
for residents of Mississippi's nine counties declared as disaster areas
by President Bush on May 23, 2003. Those who sustained storm damage but
were unable to visit a fixed-site or mobile Disaster Recovery Center (DRC)
in their area can learn about federal and state disaster aid by calling
FEMA's Helpline, 1-800-621-FEMA (3362). The
speech or hearing impaired should call TTY 1-800-462-7585.

The toll-free Helpline can be used to get information about the various
forms of federal and state disaster aid, or to track the status of an
application. Essentially, the same information that was available in the
FEMA/state DRCs is available through the Helpline.

"We call it the Helpline and that's the idea," said Carlos
Mitchell, the federal official in charge of federal recovery operations.
"For a variety of reasons, many of those affected by the May 5th
through 8th severe weather could not personally visit a DRC. The Helpline
provides them with the same service."

The Helpline number is available everyday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The number is the same as the FEMA application number, 1-800-621-3362
(TTY 1-800-462-7585), but when calling select the Helpline option.

Leon Shaifer, the state coordinating officer for the recovery operation,
said, "Our objective is to provide a means for everyone to be able
to contact us for disaster assistance. We recognize that there are some
who were not able to visit one of our centers, and we want them to have
the same access to information."

The nine Mississippi counties in which residents may be eligible for
some form of federal and state disaster aid are: Calhoun, Clay, Chickasaw,
Itawamba, Lee, Lowndes, Monroe, Pontotoc and Webster.